3.5 stars. I worked my way through this anthology very slowly at first but I found the back half had more entries that held my interest. It's always tough for me to review collections and anthologies. I have to say that I did not find that this collection had as much coherence as I've seen in others and honestly, it's not a particularly uplifting group of stories. So if, like me, you read a lot of romance, you might find this a bit dreary. That said, I did appreciate the diverse representation among the authors, characters and subjects and I'm glad to have read it.

And there were indeed some very memorable gems among the ~45 entries that were more uplifting and hopeful (or just more compelling):

1. I Want to Suck This Man's Toes by Adam Zmith
2. A Character Sketch by Gaar Adams
3. Doing Admin in Gaza by Sharon Shaw
4. Nobody's Sons by Jonathan Pizarro
5. Elevated People by Lukas Georgiou
6. This Day by George Hodsun
7. Bo by Tom Spencer
8. Talking to Ghosts on Geary St. by Marilyn Smith
9. To a Moustache by Martha Benedict

Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for granting me free access to the advanced digital copy of this book.

This was a beautiful collection of heartfelt stories. Some were difficult to read but beautiful all the same

Thank you for NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

I read Queer Life Queer Love #1 in 2022 and I loved it so as soon as I saw #2 I HAD to request it. Its such a beautiful collection of queer joy and I think everybody should read it.

It is beautiful to have queer stories told and published. It helps questioning people and other queer people see themselves represented. And it also helps to "normalize" our stories, to make them more visible. That of what you don't speak doesn't exist.

This is such a varied, lovely collection of work - it's hard to review it as one piece because I found some of the essays and stories more compelling than others, but they were all beautiful.

Each of these essays was vulnerable and filled with the uniqueness that is queer life and queer love. Some are hard to read and had me tearing up, others were funny and poignant. I think this is a great representative book of what it means to live and love as a queer individual.

I'm usually ok with anthologies but this one just wasn't for me. For short stories I come from a speculative fiction background so maybe I'm just not used to short stories not really having a strong idea behind them which is usually easier to find with SF. In spite of this, my favorite stories from this anthology were the simple slice-of-life ones which gave a glimpse of someone's everyday life, There were some really touching or heart-wrenching or simply just cozy stories I really liked. However, there were also a lot of stories that were just ok, and some were really meh or even confusing. Also, the stories I liked better were usually in the second half of the book, so by that time I've felt disappointed several times already.
What I really liked is that though there are some recurring themes, there's still a nice variety to them. I was also surprised - as not a big fan of poetry and someone who doesn't really understand contemporary poetry - I actually liked quite a few of them as well.
The atmosphere of this selection has an overall melancholy which I liked.

Thank you for NetGalley and the publisher for providing the ARC in exchange for an honest review.

Thanks to Netgalley and the publisher for my digital ARC in exchange for a review!

3.75 stars

I’ve been burned by uneven anthologies in the past, but how could I not be intrigued by the title Queer Love, Queer Life when I saw it on Netgalley? 🏳️‍🌈🩷 And I’m glad I put my apprehension behind me because I thoroughly enjoyed this collection!
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It’s a mix of short stories, essays, memoir and poetry, and though a lot of the poetry did go over my head (as always), I found something to appreciate in most pieces, and there were more than a few absolutely brilliant pieces of writing from mostly new and emerging or lesser known queer writers. There are stories exploring lots of aspects of queer life, from young people coming out, beginning the messy journey of figuring out who they are, to middle aged queer folks navigating change and illness, to elder queer people looking back on their lives and how society has changed. There was one beautiful essay from an older man, George Hodson, who battled AIDs and cancer, whose little author bio afterwards said he had a memoir forthcoming, but then I looked him up only to find he’d passed away just a few weeks earlier. Honestly so sad, and a reminder of how important it is to immortalise queer stories in collections like these.
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Some of my favourites included: Studio by Amy Ridler, a lovely story about a blossoming love between nonbinary Kay and cis woman Hazel; Bo by Tom Spencer, a charming and hopeful story of a young boy figuring himself out while playing with gender; This Day by George Hodson, as above; Nobody’s Sons by Jonathan Pizarro, a gorgeously evocative snapshot of stolen moments between two young men on a beach in Spain; and The Moment is Perfect, Whole & Complete by L.E. Yates, quite a sensational story about a woman struggling to deal with her partner’s terminal illness that had me absolutely gripped!
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Another reviewer pointed out that it perhaps skews a little heavy on stories from cis and trans men, but overall I found it to be an engaging anthology with more than a few authors whose full length works I’d like to pick up!

What a wonderful read! A few entries are emotion provoking but overall this collection is brilliant.

… So I had this arc via NetGalley so thank you.
This is an anthology about queer love and queer life (duh). I really thought this would be about queer joy, because of the title… but ha-ha nope there are stories that were hard to read, like stories about death, and missed love stories,…
Not all the stories did it for me, and to be honest, a lot of the stories did not do it for me. But that's the thing with anthologies, it’s a risk to take when you read one right? There are some that were amazing, that made me feel so much. But not enough for me to give it 4 stars. Also, even if it’s a queer anthology trans women and transfem writers were clearly missing most of the time. It felt like a lot of men (cis and trans), and some non-binary people.
I think we don’t see enough trans women and transfem in books, well their stories are not pushed forward. And it is a shame.

2.5 stars.
Thank you to Netgalley and the publisher for allowing me to read an ARC of this book.

This book was pretty good, but I felt like I was way too stupid for it most of the time. Me and poetry just don't really get along well I guess. There were some good story's in there tho!
Don't have the energy for a longer review, but I would recommend this book to people if you want to read some lgbt+ poetry and short stories.

i quite liked this! As always with anthologies, some hits and some misses, but I always love discovering new queer writers. I found that the diversity of style made it more difficult (especially for the poetry, I think I can either be reading poetry or not reading poetry, but going from prose to poetry so quickly made it hard to get into for me). However, the large range of themes and stories explored in this made the reading experience very enjoyable, I'm sure everyone can find something to love in there!

So happy to find Adam Zmith and Swithun Cooper in this, writers I discovered in Unreal sex and adored! I also particularly loved the contributions of Sharon Shaw, George Hodson, Nikki Ummel, Jonathan Kemp, Tom Spencer and Finn Brown.

I received this book as an eARC in exchange for my honest opinion. Thanks to Netgalley and Muswell Press!

This is a mixed selection of pieces, all with queer love as a theme.

Some of the pieces I loved, some less so, but that is the risk you take with a collection! I suspect you'll find something in here you love, regardless of your taste

A little bit of extra love for the cover!

I received an advance copy for free from NetGalley, on the expectation that I would provide an honest review.

A wide range of stories, poems and essays, but sadly I didn't ever feel hugely engaged by it. I do think though with so many different stories to tell in here that you're bound to find some that you connect with, so if this sort of anthology is your thing then it would be worth a try. It just didn't keep me hooked in the same way something like Proud (ed. by Juno Dawson) did.

In a previous review I mentioned that I don't consume anthologies as often as I do full-length novels, but I think this one had all the ingredients to make it a pleasant read for me. It includes many literary pieces from various genres and styles, and they also vary in length, which meant that the reading experience was not monotonous or dense at all.

I also appreciated the fact that after each piece we got a bio from each author. It made me connect more with what I was reading as well as the people who wrote it. I think this is the perfect book for people like me, who have consumed their fair share of queer literature and want something fresh and that does not reproduce the same tropes and stereotypes, but also for people who are just getting into queer literature because, like sexual orientations and gender identities, it is so diverse and rich.

NetGalley ARC Educator 550974


I enjoyed reading this book. It gives you a glimpse into the mind of LGBTQIA persons and their experiences. Though a work of fiction, some of the stories feel like real life. I will locate and read volume 1 and look forward to volume 3. A good read for Pride month.

Thank you netgalley for providing this book for review.

I wasn't much of a fan of this book. It wasn't my type of stories. I can't argue much on what I am thinking right now, and to be honest, I feel like some of my opinions will be hurtful when it isn't my attention.

2.5 Stars
Thank you to NetGalley and Matt Bates for providing me with a copy of this book.

Overall, I found this collection to be a little underwhelming. There were a few standout stories, but apart from that it was not memorable. The stories I'd recommend are "Talking to Ghosts Geary St." by Marilyn Smith, "Nobody's Sons" by Jonathan Pizarro, "The Artist is Present" by Sarah Keenan, and "Doing Admin in Gaza" by Sharon Shaw. I'd probably purchase this book for those alone, but unfortunately the rest of the stories don't quite hold up.

Additionally, some stories are quite explicit, while others have more of a YA feel, so I'm not quite sure what audience I'd recommend this to.

The best way to support Pride Month is to listen to and lift up Queer voices — so this is definitely the perfect book for that.

It’s hard to give an accurate review of this, because it contains 30 pieces of work with such unique voices, styles and topics that can’t be summed up with an overall critique. But the common themes between them is radical acceptance, love and understanding and that shines from the pages. It goes from dating, to family, to identity and belonging, to society and gives a unique queer lens on life and love that was a joy to read.

From lyrical poetry, to clever short stories, mini-memoirs and think pieces, and thoughtful essays — there is a breadth of knowledge and experience that went into creating this collection along with the talent that is definitely in most of the works inside. It’s easily readable and you can definitely jump in and out as you like (but you probably won’t want to put it down)